Bring us the features! An Ars staff wish list for iOS 7

We tell you our suggestions for iOS 7 and invite you to tell us yours.

It's 2013, which most likely means another major iOS update will soon come down the tubes from Apple. iOS 7 has already begun popping up in some server logs—no huge surprise, since Apple is constantly working on its next big thing(s). But so far, we know virtually nothing about what to expect from iOS 7. After all, the general public is still only on iOS 6.0.2, with iOS 6.1 reportedly just around the corner.

While the 6.1 update will undoubtedly improve on what we already have, iOS 7 has the potential to make significant changes and improvements to how iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad users interact with their devices. So, what better opportunity for the Ars staff to dream and speculate about what we'd really like to see Apple do with its next major release? I asked a number of our iOS-using staff members to tell me the most important items on their wish lists and came up with a list of eight things we think would be great to see when iOS 7 is released to the public.

1) Let us set and remove our own default apps

Could there be a more common complaint about iOS than this? Users are dying to have the ability to specify their own default apps for things like Web browsing, mapping, task management, notes, and more—but Apple won't let us. The time is now: Apple should add a panel in the iOS Settings that lets us do this so that when we click a link from another app, we don't have to use Safari, or when we tap on an address on a webpage, we don't have to use Maps.

This has long been a common request from Ars staffers, and it topped the list when I asked this time around as well. "Apple could even provide some kind of spec that a third-party app would have to conform to before it can be allowed as the new default e-mail client," John Siracusa said. "It doesn't have to be as wide open as it is on OS X, but I don't think it can stay as closed as it is now forever." On that same note, isn't it about time for us to be able to delete Apple's default apps? You know, the ones we all shuffle into their own folder on the last Springboard screen (mine is called "Shit I never use"), such as Stocks, Compass, Game Center, or whatever else doesn't strike your fancy. "The ability to remove default iOS apps (like the thrice-damned Newsstand and Game Center) would be wonderful," said Reviews Editor Lee Hutchinson, but I doubt it will ever happen."

2) Take Do Not Disturb to the next level

We like Do Not Disturb, which was introduced with iOS 6 in late 2012, even though it has run into some high-profile bugs lately. The feature allows us to schedule times when our devices won't ring, buzz, or light up when receiving calls or notifications—great for trying to get some uninterrupted sleep, or during important times of the day. But the feature is still very basic—you can only schedule one time block at a time (say, 11pm to 7am every day), or manually turn it on/off as needed.

As Chris Foresman pointed out, iOS users could really benefit from the ability to apply finer-grained scheduling to the Do Not Disturb feature. "Being able to have different schedules for different days of the week," he said, would allow people to specify different times for weekdays versus weekends, or add special items like regular business meetings. Apple could also take this feature to the next level by stealing a feature from RIM and the BlackBerry: power management. Some of us would rather just have our iPhones (or other iOS devices) shut down altogether at certain times of day—call it a more forced version of Do Not Disturb. "All Macs have power management options, including the ability to have a device shutdown at a specific time and wake up at a specific time," Ars Editor-in-Chief Ken Fisher said. "The BlackBerry has had this functionality for years. Apple could land on the right side of green by including this support."

3) Multiple users per device—or at least a kid mode

We're sure you've heard this one before—how many times have you handed your iDevice to a family member or friend, only to have them start digging into your e-mail or moving around your home screen icons? The ability to manage multiple users on a single device like we can on the Mac (and pretty much every other computing platform) would help mitigate this problem, though not everyone agrees such a feature would be helpful or easy-to-use on a tiny mobile device like the iPhone—perhaps it would be more useful on the iPad, a device that's much more likely to be shared among a family or roommates.

But even if you don't like the idea of a multi-user iOS device, users with kids seem to agree hands-down that a "kid mode" would be a huge help. It could be an extension of Apple's current Parental Controls that allows parents to flip a switch and put the device into a mode that allows limited access to only certain apps, temporarily turn off the ability to answer (or make) phone calls, limit the Web from all available apps, completely turn off in-app purchasing power, and so on. Even those of us without kids (myself included) could make use of this feature when visiting friends or family with children; I know I've had my iPhone co-opted by toddlers many times, only to find them making FaceTime calls to all my friends 10 minutes later. We don't mind handing over our iOS devices to children to distract themselves, but a way to keep them (and the devices) safe during that time would be a great feature to have.

4) A better way to organize and manage apps

The tapping and holding until apps start to wiggle. The dragging between screens. The apps shifting around when you don't want them to while you're trying to move something else. That annoying phenomenon when you realize all your infrequently used apps are piling up on the ninth-Springboard-screen-back. App organization drives us all crazy from time to time, and the Ars staff would like some fresh ways to clean up.

"I want some new thinking, like being able to swipe down to reveal widgets, and swipe up to reveal a drawer for fast moving of icons," Creative Director Aurich Lawson said. "It's time to acknowledge that the UI that was designed for a phone that didn't even have the concept of downloading apps hasn't kept up with the times." But if we're going to revamp how we organize apps on our devices, we should also revamp how we can manage them from the cloud, says Social Editor Cesar Torres. He pointed out that it's sometimes difficult to remember whether certain apps are still on the device or not (there might be some apps that you use very infrequently, but they're nice to have when you need them), and if they've been deleted, going through the App Store to find them again can be a pain.

"Amazon has a Cloud/Device set of tabs" that could be useful for this, Torres said. "Or something sort of like Dropbox's system, where if you star something, it gets stored locally. I would like for all apps to have a standardized way of showing you this, so you're always clear on what's in the phone and what's in the cloud." Torres thinks this should apply beyond apps, though—he thinks it should also apply to data stored within each app, and that third-party developers should work with Apple to come up with a more standard way to show whether documents are local, on iCloud, or stored somewhere else.

426 Reader Comments

It's a small thing, but I'd like to be able to lay out my iPad homescreen icons independently in portrait and landscape mode. Having them re-flow doesn't work for me at all. It's not intuitive for me to have, for example, my YouTube icon on the right in portrait mode, but on the left in landscape mode.

I'm not keen on widgets. I used Android for a while, but I found that the widgets didn't solve any problem that I had. They just turned my interface into a mess.

Also on the iPad, I'd like to see multiple apps on-screen at once, possibly in the same way that Windows 8 does it. Having to stop what you're doing and switch to a messaging app when a message arrives, for example, is very tedious.

In the App Store app, return the ability to refresh the list of apps that need updating. I can't tell you how many times I see a number in the app badge, but when I open the app, it is still showing a prior list of apps. You need to be able to pull to refresh at this point. If I kill the app then restart it, that updates the list, and currently it's the only way to do it.

As a mac family, with 2 macs, 3 iphones, and 2 ipads, I had to make a decision recently when I wanted to look at pad device for family use and what I ended up purchasing a KINDLE HD FIRE this year for ONE REASON.

Parental Controls on iOS frankly sucks donkey balls.

On android devices, there is software available that can set time limits for classes of apps such as "unlimited reading books", but "only 1 hour of video", or "only 1 hour of games" etc.. you can password protect individual apps, or even set time limits for individual apps. You can set time periods such as "games are only available during 6pm - 9pm etc". Combine the flexibility of the 3rd party parental controls available on android, plus Kindle's new "Kids Central", and the choice was super simple. ANDROID wins hands down for giving a device to kids. iOS devices have terrible controls, and are completely inappropriate for giving to kids or tweens to use.

None of this sort of stuff is available on iOS.

ALL APPLE has to do is provide the hooks/api and other companies will develop the features. But apple will not give any access to such low level OS levels.

Frankly, after being a huge iOS device fan for years, the more success I have with this Kindle Fire HD, the more I have to consider when its time to get my next round of phones and stuff I will look very very very very hard at android based devices.

by default, my bluetooth is disabled. when i'm switching on the personal hotspot, bluetooth is enabled. that's okay, but i'd expect ios to revert to my initial settings (bluetooth off) when i disable personal hotspot again

Better text editing. Mainly, just a way to move the cursor around in a text field that doesn't require trying to pinpoint it with a fat finger. Could be virtual "arrow keys" or, as has been suggested, nudge via swipe on the keyboard.

Do Not Disturb while on call. I hate, hate my phone buzzing with notifications while I'm on a call. It's so incredibly irritating that I'm astounded it hasn't already been addressed.

More Siri. I use Siri all the time, but she could always do more. A third-party API would blow it right open of course; but even apart from that there is plenty for Apple to do.

1 - Settings incorporated into the Notification Centre, so that I can drag down and make adjustments without leaving the app that I'm currently using. Wi-fi, Bluetooth etc

2 - A way to see the wi-fi passwords stored in the device, for places I've visited (and logged on at) in the past

3 - Multi-touch gesture to switch apps. Double-clicking the home button is great, but the button on my iPhone 4 wore out - a common problem. The iPad allows you to swipe up with 3/4 fingers to switch apps, so why can't the iPhone allow you to do the same with 2 or 3 fingers?(I want to avoid swiping in from the side, as most cases have a 'lip' that would prevent this)

4 - Be able to repeat calendar events on a custom basis (e.g. first working day of the month, every 4 weeks, 2nd Tuesday of the month)Likewise, better alerts of these (more than 2 hours but less than 1 day)

5 - Search for a word within a web page (maybe a search icon in Notification Centre?)

6 - In Safari bookmarks, a switch to say if you want to view the mobile or desktop version of the site (especially useful for iPad?)

Given the desired features. Pretty much what you want is an Android phone then.Let the gnashing and wailing and pulling of beards begin...

Exactly what I was thinking.

Sounds like iOS users want a Nexus4.

You're right. Apple needs to be more responsive to it's competition. Having owned both an Android and an iPhone, though, I'm happier in the iPhone camp.

And, to be fair, there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with that. Your choice as a consumer includes whether you want an iPhone, or an Android device. It just bites me somewhat when Apple users yell about Android copying this or copying that.. only to say the features they most want are those that Android has done for ages, and when Apple copies them (like pull down notifications) it's ok. Your choice in phone OS is personal and reflects what you want as a user, it shouldn't be determined by who had the better lawyers.

I'd like to see an ad hoc, timed silent mode, that's let me silence the ringer for some period of time, typically an hour or two. Repeatedly, I forget to turn the ringing back on, missing some calls. That's a pain and implementing a fix ought to be trivial.

And, to be fair, there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with that. Your choice as a consumer includes whether you want an iPhone, or an Android device. It just bites me somewhat when Apple users yell about Android copying this or copying that.. only to say the features they most want are those that Android has done for ages, and when Apple copies them (like pull down notifications) it's ok. Your choice in phone OS is personal and reflects what you want as a user, it shouldn't be determined by who had the better lawyers.

I agree, but Android users call the kettle black. How many times to Android users lambast Apple for copying, oh, let's say notifications? The yelling goes both ways, and both sides should get over it.

I would love to see Apple support a cydia-like appstore allowing hackability without the need to jailbreak.

Either branch off the iOS API into two versions (normal and 'pro'), or support two appstores (official and experimental).

Easily monetized without all the security issues of a jailbreak. Apple can use the 'pro' iOS to drive sales of new devices, drive sales of new apps, all without overwhelming the core customer.

I can still easily give my parents an iOS device that's super easy to use, and I can continue using iOS without having to wait for a jailbreak just so I can do small cosmetic and functional modifications that are currently already feasible and working.

I would think this would convince a lot of ex-iOS Android users to come back to iOS and would keep all the iOS users that are looking for 'more' in their smartphone within the apple ecosystem.

1. If I find an app by typing its name on the Search screen, I'd like the option to go to the app on whatever screen/folder its in, instead of launching it. Perhaps if you hold down on the name of the app, it could take you to the appropriate screen and simultaneously put apps into "jiggle" edit mode.

2. An (optional) sound/vibration cue when a spelling correction is suggested.

3. An easier way to dismiss a spelling correction than tapping on the tiny 'x'. How about shake-to-dismiss? Or shake just after a correct to automatically undo just the correct without a dialog?

Definitely. I've got an Android and I'd like the ability to set a home screen on ANY browser. Don't know who decided that every time I opened my browser on my phone, I obviously want to see the last webpage I had open last week.

(Of course, if anyone knows of a browser that does act more desktop-like, please let me know.)

1. An API for apps to change their icons, so that we can have a clock icon that actually shows the time, a weather app that shows the actual weather and so on. iOS does this already for the calendar app, so it can't be that hard, really.2. A slight modification of the home button behaviour: If an app is launched from within another app make the home button first return to the first app instead of to the home screen. This wouldn't change anything in most cases but would do the right thing if you open an URL from within the mail app or similar. I think nearly everyone would find this LESS confusing that what the button does now in these cases.3. Have the multitasking bar appear when sliding into the screen from the bottom, maybe just in the center of the screen above the home button. Double clicking the button is awkward, especially if your button gets wonky and double clicking works only half of the time anyway.4. A sane document manager. I can understand why iOS will never have a "real" file manager, but just having the system gather all documents you hand from one app to another and offer a list for managing these documents (and saving/opening/exporting them) would help a lot to solve the same problem a file manager tries to solve. Add plugins for third-party cloud services to allow Dropbox etc to integrate nicely here.5. BT file transfer at least for photos. Really, why can't I sent my own photos to a print kiosk via BT?6. Keychain syncing at least with OS X as well as a keychain (password) manager in iOS.7. Add a few things to the shut-down pane that appears when you long-press the sleep button, like toggles for airplane mode, WiFi, mobile data, BT, etc.

All of these features could be implemented fairly easily and without changing anything major with the OS or the UI. It's actually really strange that Apple hasn't fixed any of these shortcomings since 5 years now.

there are three things I want from iOS 7, in order of most important to least.

1. HORIZONTAL FUCKING SPRINGBOARD.

2. Redesigned UI.

3. to stop splitting apps, for merely more springboard icons, video and music should be combined back into iPod, newsstand and iBooks should be one app as well. and there are others, that I can't think of right now. :c

4. Redesign Settings, some of the shit in there just isn't laid out optimally, some thing hiding behind top-level groups for no apparent reason.

5. When reinstalling iOS, STOP ERASING THE DATA PARTITION. I, like most other people, like having my data intact.

Updating the calendar is only needed once a day-- a tiny battery hit. Updating the clock every minute would mean 1440 updates and 1440 battery hits per day.

Keeping the weather app icon current would use the GPS, wifi, and cell network-- big battery hits.

The clock is already updated every minute in the status bar, the weather is updated for the weather widget in the notification center and all of this wouldn't have to happen as long as the screen is off or you aren't on the relevant home screen anyway.

- widgets, widgets, widgets. We're not in 2007 anymore.- real notifications- a few toggles in the notifications (wifi, BT...) and a shortcut to settings- a regular BT stack, not some castrated shit- a regular USB stack, not some castrated shit (again)- dlna compatibility- a menu key, so that apps' UIs are not fragmented, but consistent across apps- a back key, so that apps' UIs are not fragmented, but consistent across apps (again)- better handling of different screen sizes, so that Apple can put out phones in different sizes. Android is wayyy ahead there.

This has always been there. Hit the back button until all conversations are listed. Tap the Edit button and delete individual conversations to you heart's delight.

Or just leave the conversations there. They'll will slip to the bottom over time and be forgotten.

Hytes wrote:

I wish they would add the ability to delete/clear multiple SMS conversations at once. You've had the ability to do this forever in mail, why not for messages? I get tons of automated alerts from work and I hate having to clear them off one at a time.

3. An easier way to dismiss a spelling correction than tapping on the tiny 'x'.

Autocorrect on iOS is horrendous for exactly this reason.

Well, autocorrect is not optimal, but not because of the "tiny x". Because you don't have to tap on that "x" at all, just tap anywhere on the suggested word that has the x next to it.

What I would like (there's already a jailbreak modification for that): Use the space bar on the keyboard for moving the cursor left and right if you swipe over it left/right. This is a very simple thing that makes editing and correcting words or sentences much, much more convenient, it's almost better than even cursor keys.

I have games that I want to delete from my iPhone so I can get more space, but if I delete the app, it will delete my game save, too!

I've never understood the allure of this. It's one of the few things I like about iOS and miss since switching to Mac OS X in 2007. When I delete an app to free up space, I want everything to be gone. Sure, we will eventually need a way to keep documents created in an app even if it's no longer installed, but I don't see that coming for some time.

It's even more of a problem on the Mac: Uninstallation is usually simple - Drag apps to the trash - but are overly optimistic. All preferences or settings outside of a user's home Application Support folder for the App should be deleted as well. I've made the decision to uninstall the app for a reason, what are the odds that I'm going to go back on that decision?

I realize that Add/Remove Programs on Windows doesn't work in all cases, but for most users it's good enough. There's a reason that things like App Zapper have been around for so long - People want this feature.

NOTE: Launchpad is disqualified immediately as I never use it and have disabled it on all machines I use.

Updating the calendar is only needed once a day-- a tiny battery hit. Updating the clock every minute would mean 1440 updates and 1440 battery hits per day.

Keeping the weather app icon current would use the GPS, wifi, and cell network-- big battery hits.

The clock is already updated every minute in the status bar, the weather is updated for the weather widget in the notification center and all of this wouldn't have to happen as long as the screen is off or you aren't on the relevant home screen anyway.

I'm almost certain Apple doesn't update unnessacary data when it's not being used, it'd be inefficient and drain battery, atleast I hope not.

3. An easier way to dismiss a spelling correction than tapping on the tiny 'x'.

Autocorrect on iOS is horrendous for exactly this reason.

Well, autocorrect is not optimal, but not because of the "tiny x". Because you don't have to tap on that "x" at all, just tap anywhere on the suggested word that has the x next to it.

I'm usually looking at the keyboard, not at the text when I'm typing, so I usually miss the tiny word "suggestions" that are usually wrong. Then I hit space and the word I typed correctly is replaced by the incorrect one.

I have games that I want to delete from my iPhone so I can get more space, but if I delete the app, it will delete my game save, too!

I've never understood the allure of this. It's one of the few things I like about iOS and miss since switching to Mac OS X in 2007. When I delete an app to free up space, I want everything to be gone. Sure, we will eventually need a way to keep documents created in an app even if it's no longer installed, but I don't see that coming for some time.

Because I want to keep my game progress and free up space. That's really the only reason, and I need it now, not "eventually."